GLEN SPEY, NY — A two-hour closed session meeting with the town’s negotiations consultant on April 22 yielded no resolution in a contract settlement for the town highway department.

Highway workers have been working without a contract since mid-2013.

Believed to be the last highway department in Sullivan to do so, the highway workers last spring voted to join the Teamsters Union and sought town certification for the union local last May.

The proposal was not warmly received, as board members said they had negotiated in good faith. They argued that highway salaries and benefits were comparable with other towns, and rising taxes were already threatening the town’s growth.

Councilman James Akt then spoke of all items the town board had provided already for highway employees. “There are some people who drive 100 miles a day to get what they’re getting now.”

Akt said the rising costs are threatening Lumberland. “A lot of people want to leave town,” he said.

“They are leaving,” Supervisor Nadja Rajsz then added.

Highway Superintendent Don Hunt gave the employees’ version during the 2014 discussion. He said the employees were seeking equity with other towns. “I don’t believe their goal is to break the town. They want equality with others who are making a whole lot more… You’ve been butting heads and they felt it was time to take another route.”

Rajsz said a third formal negotiation session will be held on the contract. If no resolution is reached, a mediator will be called in. Failing a mediated settlement, the contract dispute would go before a labor relations court.

In other April 22 business, the town board: scheduled a May 13 public hearing to discuss resolution for the reported “unrestrained accumulation of rubbish” at the 265 White Rd. property, whose recorded owner is Vantium REO Capital Markets LP; approved a resolution calling for the $9,286 installation of grant-funded security cameras at the town hall and park basketball court; directed the town clerk to begin distributing passes for the anticipated annual household rubbish cleanup day scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on May 16, although county program participation has yet to be finalized by county legislature; and discussed creation of a standardized town policy to eliminate variances in town employees’ medical insurance.